Hello -
 
We lost Bailey in November due to complications brought upon her by her
Insulinoma.
 
Everything you said the doctor did is exactly what our vet did, was exactly
the course of action, and doesn't sound the least bit over-reactive.  The
only thing different we did was get the full blood panel from the U of
Tenneeseee (is that where they send it?).  That not only diagnosed her
Adrenal Cancer, which is what we brought her in for, but the Insulinoma,
which had not been showing signs yet.  It is not the same kind of test as a
glucose test.  It is an expensive test, but it will show everything a vet
needs to know about the ferrets condition.  If she doesn't trust two
readings, then she needs to have this test done.
 
It was my understanding that when a ferret is diagnosed with Insulinoma,
that means tumors are already forming/have grown onto the pancreas.  That
is why the ferret shows the blood glucose levels in the blood tests.
 
Ferrets do not have to be on their death bed to be sick from Insulinoma.
They simply haven't begun to show the elevated symptoms of the disease.
The tumors must come off or the ferret will begin to show the elevated
symptoms of the disease: weakness, teeth grinding, the blood sugar levels,
vomiting, seizures, etc.
 
There is NO medicine that gets rid of the tumors, and the only medicine I
know of that they treat Insulinoma symptoms with is Prednisone and perhaps,
Proglycem.  After watching what Prednisone did to Bailey, and how it
factored into her death, I would GLADLY pay four times the amount for
surgery than put her on that drug.  Our vet also prescribed Proglycem,
which would have helped her a lot had the Prednisone not already wiped
her out.
 
Surgery is the first option in treating them, unless you wish to treat your
ferret with holistic medicine.  Everything after the surgery is maintenance
for the ferret, not a cure, not even treatment, because the tumors always
come back.
 
You can not rely on scans to see the tumors.  Bailey had Adrenal Cancer
and tumors from her Insulinoma, none of which showed up on X-rays or
ultrasounds.
 
We have another ferret, a male named Sturmie, who weighed 3 pounds, had his
thick, gorgeous winter coat, was playful and happy last year.  In January
of `99, I got the flu.  I gave it to Sturmie.  With a WEEK, he had dropped
a pound and a half, stopped eating, his kidney's began to fail, he was so
weak the last day that he could not walk or even roll over.  I took him to
the vet where I told them I thought he had my horrible case of the flu.
The vet told me to go to the doctor myself and then he would call me later.
Later that day, he told me he was doing the full blood panel on Sturmie.
Sturmie was only a year and a half old, perfectly healthy and fine before
this.  I didn't believe the test would show anything.  It came back
positive for Insulinoma.  The flu had "triggered" some of the symptoms, and
the ONLY reason he's still alive is because of my vet.  He did the blood
panel, he kept Sturm for nine days on IV fluids to wash the poison out of
his system and then did the Insulinoma surgery when Sturmie was recovered
from the flu and the IV liquids.
 
I suggest she listen to her vet.  If she is online, she should go to Ferret
Central and read about Insulinoma in the Medical FAQ, or if she is not
online, perhaps you could print it for her?
 
Hope this helped,
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 2976]